Back to School: Allergy Edition
Every year its the same process, school registration, check. School supplies, check. Wardrobe reboot because your kid’s outgrew literally everything in just under three months, check. But wait! There’s more!
… and any other form your specific school may need to support the structures in place to keep your child safe. It’s all about having a care plan for you child should anything happen. It’s basically so people aren’t running around bumping heads when things get cray-cray.
In terms of what your school administration will be expecting, there's two forms and a potential third that will dictate how your plan is implemented at school.
Medical Authorization Form(s)
Menu Modification Form
Lunchroom Allergy Table Form
Let’s get into it.
Real fast… let me quickly state that if you can pull off delivering these forms to the school nurse or whomever is managing this part of the process, they will L.O.V.E you. It's worth getting in the good graces of those you'll need to interface with every year.
Medication Authorization Form
This is the foundation of medical care for your child. No one at the school legally can give medication or dispense an EpiPen into the leg of anyone without a form.
This form will dictate the allergy being addressed, what the symptoms are, and what medication has been authorized to manage that allergy. This statement is then validated by your primary care physician by their signature and also yours. Once this is complete and filed by the school it is now part of the schools action plan. Note that this is needed for acute administration of any medication (EpiPen) or chronic administration (asthma).
This brings me to my next point here. This form can only engage one medication. So for instance, my son has a few medications for certain instances: EpiPen for the “oh my God it's happening!…” moments and antihistamines for whenever it's needed. This would require two separate medical authorization forms to dictate the specifics of each medication in their respective circumstances.
The take home message is that you may need multiple forms to fill out and take to your pediatrician.
Where do you get these forms? The nurse can hook you up with these at the end of the school year. If you’re new to school, your pediatrician’s office should have them. Just call up the office an arrange for pickup. You’ll need to fill them out and hand them back over to the office so your doctor can confirm and authorize treatments at school.
This is where it may differ office-to-office… you may be asked to return that paperwork to the school’s clinic OR you they may manage that for you by faxing/emailing it all over.
Lastly, some counties will have these forms downloadable on the school systems main portal for you to just print yourself if you want. These forms tend to be slightly different per county and/or state but cover the same aspects.
Menu Modification Form
This form is for the school to know how to build our childs menu, assuming they will be eating from their cafeteria. I was always too fearful for this because I was a badge carrying control freak for the longest time. But I understand this is a really useful resource for many.
Same deal, get this from a nurse in your schools clinic or from your pediatrician’s office. This form does require some parential input again, around the foods to avoid and then must be signed off by your doctor.
“The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service sets the overarching rules for school meal programs, including the requirement to make “reasonable accommodations” for children with disabilities whose dietary needs restrict their ability to eat the standard menu.”
Food and Nutrition Administration - Accommodating Children with Disabilities in the School Meal Programs
Having allergies to food, fundamentally, is considered a disability and by law the government is meant to support families with disabilities in this way.
I’d like to mention now a difference between menu modification for personal preference versus a medical necessity. Usually these menu modification forms are medically oriented and managed in that way. If you want have a religious, ethical, or personal request for a modified menu, check your county or state form covers that elective. If not, they should be able to point you to the right documentation.
Miscellaneous Forms by County/School System
It’s not uncommon to get additional forms from the school which is supplementary documentation to help to school facilitate allergy safety. This usually comes in the form of an allergy table form that allows you to elect a seating assignment in the cafeteria. This is a measure to control exposure during breakfast or lunch.
Allergy Table
My son received two of these, an egg and a tree nut allergy table form. By filling these out, it tells administrators to place your child at a table that is allergen free, depending on which form you filled out. This is a double-edged sword. On one side of the coin, your child has an extra layer of safety. The other side is, there is a subtle segregation from their peers; an invisible dunce cap. And, at these early ages, kids are B-R-U-T-A-L to each other about anything that deviates from the average.
For what its worth we wound up negotiating a middle path. My son could elect to use the allergy table in moments where he felt surrounded by peanut butter sandwiches or if he felt nauseated by the smell of nuts or something. That worked out well for us.
Classroom Form
If your teacher is especially accommodating, their intro paperwork on parents night might include some forms or docs related to allergies. This allows them to self facilitate decisions around how they manage exposure in the classroom. I usually provide a custom made cheat sheet anyway, but should you be lucky enough to have a teacher on top of allergy matters, use their resources!
That’s pretty much it. These two main government related forms will engage the school system and medical system to compare notes and tie up expectations and medical action plans in the event something happens. The school specific forms should be inquired about as you enter the classroom, as, your mileage may vary with participation.
It feels like a lot at first but you’ll get the hang of it. If you want a more personalized guide to help walk you through this process I created a 24 page guide that walk you through all of the documents and sprinkling in experience doing it all. If this tickles your interest you can find it here:
Are you a parent of a kid who has allergies? Are they also going to school? This eBook is a play-by-play of what to expect, forms needed to keep your child safe, with tips and tricks for birthdays and safe snack strategies. This was born out of my mistakes and wins managing allergies at school with my little one.
